Roots & Shoots: Jozef van Wissem + Nalle + The Family Elan

7 Nov 2007

Roots and Shoots takes an untrodden path into the exploratory territories of New York-based Dutch artist Jozef van Wissem, a virtuoso composer and musician, whose instrument of choice is the Renaissance lute. "Visceral string buzz and finger squeals that develop a tableau of complexity until the melody takes on a mournful elegance," says The Wire.

Also up are Nalle, a Glasgow-based psych-folk trio whose songs are built around unbridled vocals and guitar playing, with occasional sojourns on recorder and Finnish kantele, alongside bouzouki, clarinet and viola. Their music borrows from a wide world of musical traditions, weaving instrumental tapestries around hypnotic, almost ballad-like vocal narratives. Nalle's Chris Hladowski also presents The Family Elan - a devotional three-person side project built around vocal and bouzouki and drawing on the rich and varied traditions of Greek Rebetes, mystical tanbur and saz masters of the Near East.